Today’s post is from a special friend, Linda O’Dell. Linda has been involved in women’s prison ministry for several years. She tells us about her new book. All the proceeds go to the prison ministry.

If you are interested in donating to a prison ministry, I can highly recommend this one. Linda’s book would make a great Christmas gift and you’d be giving twice. There ya go! 😉

Here’s Linda…

Hello my friends, my name is Linda O’Dell, and I am honored to share on this blog. I am very passionate about prison ministry, as I have volunteered at a women’s prison in Oklahoma for 16 years.

Through my Letters For The Lord Prison Ministry, I also correspond nationwide with prisoners and their families. I started prison work in 1998 when a family member was wrongly convicted. Then, the Lord started calling me into the prison to minister to as many women as possible. They have changed my life.

It is so rewarding. For the mail part of the ministry, I started that back in the ’70s and I am always looking for volunteers to help. If interested, contact me.

The work I do at the women’s prison is with a bigger group of volunteers and we have a weekly mentoring program ongoing for 14 years now. We do many special projects also throughout the year and always need help with funding.

I am so happy to have my first book out, Captive Thoughts, which was published on my birthday. What a special gift the Lord gave me!

Captive Thoughts reads like a book of meditations or proverbs. There are 365 ‘captive thoughts,’ one you can meditate on each day. This book of captive thoughts illuminates different perspectives on captivity, whether in a literal cage or the prisons of our thoughts. Often in the meditations, the keys to escape are easy to find. Other times, we must ponder the precepts to find the key.

If you heard a precious voice, one from another country, begging for Bibles and help for the lost, what would you do?

Many missionaries and servants of God have heard these precious calls for help and are trying to respond, ministries that have taken on the burden of caring for and giving to brothers and sisters in Christ.

I have come to know several people in the last few months who are basically working on their own, those who feel like lone voices in the wilderness:

These are just a mere representation. These people share the same deep desire: to present salvation to the lost, seeing that they grow spiritually, and to meet the varied needs of those who lack, wherever in this country or around the world.

They hear those begging voices and try to respond. Some of these ministries have no one to champion them, no one to be their cheerleader. Therefore, they do not receive the funds that they so desperately need. These people give unselfishly of their time and, when others do not give financially, they reach deep into their own pockets to help alleviate the needs.

I know the economy is the pits right now. It’s difficult for everyone. But giving even a small amount like $5 helps these ministries and so many others. Each rivulet of resource runs into another, which runs into another…until there is overflow!

We are very fortunate in this country, even when we have meager surroundings and limited resources. We are so much more blessed than two-thirds of the world, and yet, we whine when our new shoes pinch our feet!

The early church was very concerned about giving to those who preached the gospel and meeting the needs of those believers among them and in other cities.

Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, “Right now you have plenty and can help them. Then at some other time they can share with you when you need it. In this way, everyone’s needs will be met.” (2 Cor. 8:14 NLT) That is how the Kingdom works. God wants us to be a channel, a pipeline, a distribution center. He does not want us to be a storage tank!

It is not the size of the gift that matters but the condition of the heart. We give out of what we have, whether a little or a lot, “For if the [eager] readiness to give is there, then it is acceptable and welcomed in proportion to what a person has, not what he does not have.” (2 Cor. 8:12 Amp)

In this sense, Jesus remarked of the widow’s two mites, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has thrown in more than all of those casting into the treasury. For all threw in out of that abounding to them, but she out of her poverty threw in all, as much as she had, her whole livelihood.” (Mark 12:43-44 Received Greek Text) She gave all she owned to the Lord.

Where have we placed our love? The disciple John said, “If someone who is supposed to be a Christian has money enough to live well, and sees a brother in need, and won’t help him – how can God’s love be within him?” (1 John 3:17 TLB)

Paul then urges us, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:10 NKJV)

I’m learning to be a better cheerleader. My hope is that you will be inspired to be a cheerleader as well in whatever way you can to help whatever ministries the Lord lays on your hearts. And may the Lord bless you!